The present invention relates to a method of and an apparatus for horizontally casting concrete.
Various methods and apparatus have been known in the art for horizontally casting concrete with a pump. One known method utilizes pressure-feed pipes which are installed in advance and will be separated successively as the concrete casting progresses. According to another method, a distributor composed of a concrete pressure-feed pipe having a floor-mounted intermediate swivel joint is turned around to cast concrete. Still another apparatus comprises a pump vehicle having a boom. Another conventional apparatus comprises a distributor including a vertially flexible multilink boom and a concrete pressure-feed pipe extending along the multilink boom. The first concrete casting method is disadvantageous in that a transport pipe composed of the pressure-feed pipe and a pipe end hose should be placed over arranged reinforcing bars up to a concrete casting point, and the pipe should manually be replaced and the hose should manually be turned around as the casting position is moved. Furthermore, the arranged reinforced bars are disordered, the workers are subjected to physical pain, and the working efficiency is lowered. The second prior casting method is advantageous over the first method in that the working environment is improved and the reinforcing bars are prevented from being disarranged. However, since the distributor is placed on a floor mold, the latter needs to be stiffened for reinforcement, and the unfinished portion below the installed distributor must finally be completed. With the third and fourth arrangements, any concrete casting position is selected by raising and turning the boom. Therefore, they are advantageous in such construction sites as open spaces, but cannot be relied on at building construction sites where a deck plate is installed on a high building floor.
The cast concrete is compacted by a concrete vibrator supported by a vibrator worker and connected by a cabtire (vibrator) wire to a high-frequency vibrator converter located near the vibrator. The vibrator weighs about 5 to 8 kg which is too heavy for the worker to operate on for continuous vertical vibrating movement. The cabtire (vibrator) cord extending between the vibrator and the converter is cumbersome to handle.
A horizontal distributor having a multilink boom connected by a vertical pivot shaft has a steel pipe assembled on a distal end boom and a vertical brake hose depending from the distal end of the steel pipe. The vertical brake hose tends to interfere with and has to avoid obstacles such as joint bars and column bars projecting upwardly from the surface on which concrete is to be cast. The links of the boom have to be moved slightly to move forward the boom around such obstacles though the boom has a sufficient positional level. Such link movement is difficult to adjust and time-consuming to achieve.